Baseball: UL’s Leger deals with dad’s new UL Monroe allegiance

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, February 18, 2016

 

UL pitcher Gunner Leger throws during his NCAA Baton Rouge Super Regional start at LSU in 2015.(Photo: AP file photo)

 

 

Sophomore pitcher Gunner Leger, UL’s 2016 Opening Night starter against Southland Conference-member Sam Houston State on Friday night, seems rather well-versed in Ragin’ Cajuns sports history.

So when his father Tim Leger recently left his job as offensive coordinator for the football team at McNeese State to join the new staff of ex-McNeese State head coach Matt Viator at UL Monroe, the two just had to have a chat.

“I told him, ‘You went from kind-of, sort-of a rival to the biggest rival,’" Gunner Leger said, referencing how UL and ULM feud now like UL and McNeese used to in days gone by.

UL and McNeese State previously were in the Southland Conference at the same time, but now McNeese remains in the Southland and UL and ULM are in the Sun Belt Conference together.

“But it was good for him,” said Gunner Leger, a Barbe High product from Lake Charles.

“It was a good opportunity for him and our family, and he’s happy," the lefty added, "so I guess when we go up to ULM, it will be more of a rivalry. I’ll have Dad in the stands wearing the wrong colors.”

Fortunately for both, that won’t happen until next season.

ULM does visit UL this year, but that won’t happen until May, and the Cajuns do not visit the Warhawks in 2016.

Tim Leger, an Acadiana High graduate and former St. Thomas More offensive coordinator, left his alma mater to join Viator at ULM, where he will coach receivers and serve as recruiting coordinator.

The elder Leger was selected by Pittsburgh in the fourth round of the 1992 MLB Draft, and spent three years in the Pirates organization before becoming an All-Southland Conference quarterback at McNeese State, which he graduated from in 1999.

Before leaving for ULM after this past season, Leger had been working as an assistant coach at McNeese State since 2007.

Gunner Leger was the Sun Belt’s Freshman Pitcher of the Year and heads into the 2016 season as a Preseason All-SBC pick.